Lu holds 20 U.S. patents and received his bachelor of science and master of science in computer science from Fudan University and his Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Lu's strength is historically as a technologist, which may explain why Microsoft is moving OSG's field sales organization out of the group in the wake of his appointment. The company said Thursday the OSG field sales organizations will move to its centralized Sales, Marketing and Services Group, which is led by Microsoft COO Kevin Turner.

The new OSG sales group will be called Consumer and Online, and Microsoft Corporate Vice President Darren Huston will lead the group. Consumer and Online also will include the Global Advertising Sales and Services organization, which also had been a part of the OSG and which is run by Microsoft Vice President Bill Shaughnessy.